by Kami Larke
Abby flushed and stammered, “Um no. Rob wants me to stay with him.”
Jade stopped and looked at her, her eyes wide. “Trial run to actually moving in?” she asked.
Rob laughed from behind them. “No, but it can be if she wants. I just felt it safer for her to not be alone or at her apartment. I know you have to work. I’m the boss though, so I pretty much get to make the schedule.” He gave Jade a charming grin.
“Must be nice being the boss,” she grinned. “All right, well you know Peanut is welcome anytime. You want to stay for dinner?”
“I’m really not feeling up to dinner,” Abby apologized. “I just want to get to wherever, then lie down and pretend today never happened. I have to go back tomorrow to try to clean up and see if there are any books left unscathed.”
“Okay, I get that. I love you, girl. Call me if you need anything. Even dental floss.” They laughed at her movie reference as she hugged Abby. She walked them to the door and waved as they drove off.
Rob turned the car down Manchester Expressway and headed toward home. Abby gazed sightlessly out the window as they drove. He eased his hand behind her shoulders and tugged her toward him.
“This will end. I promise,” he whispered against her hair before releasing her. His hand reached down and took hers, squeezing it. He was glad she didn’t immediately release his hand after the squeeze. Her fingers were long, delicate, and somehow felt so right resting in his own. He wanted to protect her, to keep her safe from anything and anyone who might want to harm her.
Minutes later, he pulled into his drive. Glancing over at Abby, he felt a curious twinge that she didn’t even seem slightly impressed by her surroundings. Mohina Woods was an older, well established subdivision in Columbus, mostly inhabited by professors and well-established business owners. Popping the trunk, he collected Abby’s computer and suitcase.
“Well, it’s not much but it’s home,” he said in a slightly depreciating tone.
“It’s nice,” Abby said absently.
Rob shook his head. Must be the shock of what happened earlier. Normally, people were impressed by this place.
His house was located on a large corner lot. A split-level style home that the previous owners had enclosed the garage, giving him a large entertaining area. The inground pool out back had its own pool house complete with shower and toilet. Mature magnolia trees were spaced across the lawn, and azalea bushes completed the landscaping.
“Let’s get you settled.” Rob led her into the house and took her things upstairs to the master suite that overlooked the patio area and pool. Abby hardly glanced at the bathroom as he pointed it out to her. She headed straight for the bed and fell onto it, kicking her shoes off as she curled into the fetal position in the middle of the mattress. Rob set her cases down and toed his shoes off. Crawling over to her, he carefully gathered her into his arms, stroking her hair as he murmured comforting words to her as she drifted off to sleep.
He waited until she was deep in sleep before he rose. Slipping down the hall, he softly opened the door to his study. The pictures on the walls stared back at him.
“I don’t suppose I need you anymore,” he muttered. “I have the real thing now.”
He started taking the pictures down, placing them reverently into a storage box. He caressed the cheeks of the woman in the candid photos as he removed them from the peg-board. They had been taken over the course of several months. He had been surprised when she finally sought him out, but his mind accepted it as fate. She was his. There was nothing odd, to his way of thinking, that she would turn to him for protection. Now, he just needed to make sure she never turned to anyone else.
Hefting the box, he placed it in the back of the closet, taking care to arrange it so it looked like it had always been there. He studied it for a moment before nodding. No one would think anything of it.
Turning, he set about covering the empty spaces in the room. He had learned enough from Amy to know the gaps in the decorations in the room would seem odd to anyone that came in.
Thirty minutes later, he whistled a tune as he turned out the light and made his way back to Abby. Everything was going as it should.
Chapter 15 ~ abby
Abby didn’t want to get up the next morning. She knew what was coming. She had to go back to her apartment and face the mess the intruder had left behind for her. She groaned as she felt the bed dip beside her.
“Rise and shine,” Rob said. Abby almost swatted at him when the smell of fresh coffee hit her. Raising her head, she squinted at him. All she could see was the porcelain cup with steam rising from it.
“I love you,” she managed to grit out, reaching for the cup of heaven. She rolled into a half reclining position, inhaling the steam before taking a deep sip. “Oh, you know just how I like it,” she told Rob, her hand rising to caress his face.
“Good morning,” he said, leaning in to kiss her. “I brought breakfast, too.”
“Breakfast in bed? I could get used to this,” Abby said as she scooted into a seated position. Rob shook his head and laughed as he presented her with the tray holding both their breakfasts.
“Pastries? Really? What happened to the perpetual eating healthy?”
“I felt you deserved a treat,” he shrugged as he reached for a bear claw.
Abby grinned as she greedily picked up the Boston crème doughnut and took a huge bite. The crème filling oozed out, coating her fingers and chin. She closed her eyes in pleasure as the taste exploded in her mouth.
“Oh my God, this is good,” she mumbled around the bite in her mouth. Rob chuckled. Abby opened her eyes just in time to see him leaning in, his tongue licking the sticky sweet mess from her face before he captured her lips in a kiss.
“As good as you taste, we have work to do. No more tempting me. Finish that, and if you feel up to it, catch a shower real quick.”
“Where are we hurrying off to so early in the morning?”
Rob rose, taking the tray with him. “I thought you would want to go back to your place, get started on sorting through the mess left behind. The sooner we know how many books were destroyed, the sooner you can call the printer and order replacements to be shipped to the hotel in Vegas, right?”
“Ugh, you had to ruin a perfect morning by reminding me, didn’t you?” Grousing, she rose on her knees and plopped what was left of her doughnut and coffee down on the tray, not caring that it sloshed a little over the edge. She was so busy climbing off Rob’s king-sized bed she missed the momentary tightening around his eyes.
“Necessary evil,” he said before leaving the room.
Swinging her legs off the bed, Abby lugged her suitcase over and hoisted it onto the bed. Rummaging through it, she found a change of clothes, and headed for the shower. The hot water washed away the stress from the day before and she felt energized and refreshed.
Almost skipping downstairs, she called out for Rob.
“I’m in here,” she followed his voice through a beautifully appointed foyer into a kitchen that was a chef’s dream. Stainless steel appliances, marble counter tops, and backsplashes met her eye. Rob was leaning against the counter, enjoying a second cup of coffee.
“You’re looking good. Ready to go tackle the mess?”
“Yes,” Abby said emphatically. “I just hope we catch the person responsible so I can bill him for the damages.”
“That’s my tiger,” Rob said encouragingly as he rinsed out his coffee cup and set it in the drain. “Let’s go.”
They missed the morning rush of people headed to work and made it back to her apartment in no time. Abby felt a slight twinge as they approached her door. The yellow crime scene tape was still up.
“Are you sure we can enter it?” she asked for the umpteenth time.
“Yes. I talked to Officer Coxwell on the way over. You heard him, I had him on speaker phone. He said you could enter this morning and start the cleanup, and if you discover anything else is missing you are to report it to him s
traight away.”
Abby drew a deep breath and inserted her key in the lock. It felt strange to come home and not have Peanut there to greet her. The apartment seemed almost cold without her.
“I suppose we should just start by chucking the loose pages and torn books,” she said, looking down at the mess in the living room. Silently, Rob handed her one of the empty shipping boxes.
“Where do you keep the broom and dustpan?”
“Kitchen pantry,” she answered absently, already crouching down to sift through the debris. They worked steadily until lunch, breaking long enough to order in.
As she finished up lunch, Abby started toward the bathroom. Rob stepped in front of her.
“I can’t let you go in there,” he said, a serious look on his face.
“Rob, if you don’t let me go in there, I’m going to make a bigger mess on the floor than what we have spent half the day cleaning up,” Abby half laughed and tried to push past him.
“Abby, seriously. It’s bad in there. Why don’t you go use the hall restroom while I clean this up?”
“Why would I use the hall restroom?” Abby asked, managing to dance around him. She turned her head toward the bathroom and let out a half scream.
“Are you fucking kidding me? What the hell?” Shampoo and conditioner had been wasted all over the room, the intruder had obviously tried to break the thick shower door, but had no luck. Towels were strewn around the room, some hopelessly saturated in various soaps and cleansers.
“How did I not notice this yesterday?” Abby asked, appalled at the condition her bathroom was in.
“You were already in shock when you came in here. You saw it, but it likely didn’t register for you at the time. I tried to spare you this.”
Abby’s Sephora collection of makeup was opened and tossed across the counter. She wasn’t sure which hurt more. The desecration of her writing by destroying her books or this.
“You’re right. I should’ve used the one in the hallway.” Turning, she hurried from the room. When she returned twenty minutes later, Rob had most of the destroyed items bagged up and was working on wiping down the counter.
“I’m going to have to get Goo Gone to get the mirror clean.” He winced as he spoke. Abby could see where he had tried in vain to wipe the mirror clean.
“It’s not your fault.” She drew a deep breath and slowly let it out. “I say once we get the majority of this cleaned up, we just hire someone to come in and do the rest. I can order stuff online to be delivered while we are in Vegas, and it will be like setting up house all over again. Maybe I can even hire a painter to come in and paint for me while I’m gone.”
Rob shook his head. “You really are something.”
“I try.” She gave him a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Do you think we are done here?” She flinched at the whining note in her voice but reasoned she had a right to whine.
“Yeah, I think so. I’ll call my cleaning service to come in and take care of the rest.”
“Great. Let’s go. I don’t want to look at this anymore.” Abby picked up the light box containing the few copies she had left of her books that were in decent shape and headed for the door. Rob tried to take it from her, but she just held tighter.
“There are my babies. Someone killed the rest, but these survived.” He shook his head at her tone, so close to tears. Without another word, he locked up and walked with her to the car. As they arrived back at his place, he gave her the Wi-Fi password and showed her where she could set up a temporary office in one of the spare bedrooms.
“For a man with so little family, you sure do have a huge house,” Abby said. She promptly wanted to kick herself, remembering too late about his deceased wife and unborn child.
“Yeah, well, I had dreams once. They kinda got derailed. I’ll be downstairs if you need me.”
Abby stood there for a moment, not sure what she should do. Sensing he wanted some alone time, she quickly set up her computer and logged on. It only took a few moments to order replacement books to be shipped directly to the Rio Hotel in Vegas. Once those were ordered, she called the hotel to update her reservation. As she expected, for one of the spotlight authors, it was no problem to get it changed. She also let them know she would have several boxes of books arriving for the convention and to please place them in her room upon arrival.
The immediate crisis handled, she turned to getting her apartment back in order. Rob had said he would send his cleaning crew in to handle the mess. Figuring she would need to know the time schedule on that, she went in search of him.
He was sitting on the patio next to the kidney-shaped pool. As she slid the glass door open she heard him say, “Yes, just get it taken care of. I appreciate it.” He must have heard her step out as he turned abruptly and smiled at her. “I’ll talk to you later. I gotta go.”
Hanging up the phone, he gestured for her to join him.
“I just came to find out when the cleaning crew would be arriving at my place,” she explained. “I need to let the building know they are coming and I need an idea when the cleaners think they can finish so I can schedule people to repair stuff.”
Rob was looking at her intensely. She started to twist her hands as her nervousness built.
“If you can’t get them in, I do know someone who can probably do the job for me,” she began.
“No, I was just on the phone with them. They will be happy to start on it right away. They are sending someone over right now to give me an appraisal for how long it will take and how much.”
“Please let me know, I can pay you back.” Rob held his hand up.
“No, I want to do this for you,” he told her. “But come, sit, relax. We had a busy morning, and I’m sure it was stressful for you.”
Abby sat in one of the wrought iron chairs surrounding the patio table. Looking around, she commented. “You have a beautiful home. I can’t believe you never brought me here before now.”
Rob chuckled. “Well, I was planning to have you come over for a barbecue next week, but with you going out of town, I guess that wouldn’t have worked so well.”
“No, I suppose not.”
“Do you always do these events by yourself?”
Abby nodded. “Usually. I mean, it’s so expensive sometimes to take an assistant to them, it just doesn’t make sense to bring someone. It’s not like I really need someone anyway. Usually everyone is so helpful. We authors really do tend to take care of each other.”
They were silent for a few moments. Finally, Abby spoke again.
“Did they say when they would be done?”
“No, but I should have a callback in the next couple hours. Did you contact the printers?”
“Yes, I got everything ordered, and it will be shipped directly to the Rio. I also called the hotel and added you to my room and advised them of the incoming shipments.”
“You don’t waste time, do you?”
“I don’t have time to waste,” Abby countered. Just then, Rob’s phone rang. He answered and listened for a few moments, thanked the caller, and turned to Abby.
“They just left your place. They said it might take two days, but they aren’t making any promises that they can save the carpets.”
“That’s not a problem. I was going to have those replaced anyway. When will they start?”
“Tomorrow. So, they should be done by Saturday afternoon.”
Abby nodded. I don’t think I can get anyone in there on a Sunday, so I’ll have Crissy and Jade oversee it and start people on Monday then.” Abby flicked her phone on and began hunting for house painters and carpet installers. Barely half an hour later, she had people scheduled to come in the next week to repaint and replace the carpeting.
“I’m surprised your building isn’t taking care of this.” Rob commented as she finished her call to Crissy, arranging for her friend to be there the next few days to let in the cleaning crew and the people to do the painting and carpets.
“They n
ormally would, I suppose, but I don’t want it broadcast that I was broken into. It will bring down the property value. Remodeling is on me, however.”
“Makes sense, but it’s a lot of money,” Rob told her.
“It is, but I’m certain my insurance will cover some if not all of the cost. I just have to file the claim with them. I’ll do it when we get back from Vegas. I don’t have the time or energy for it today or tomorrow.”
“So, what’s on the schedule for the rest of the day?”
“Relaxing. The next week is going to be intense, so I’m going to relax and work on a couple of pieces I have in progress right now.”
“Awe, I was going to suggest a swim instead.”
“Did you pack my suit?” Abby asked.
“No, I was thinking we could skinny dip. It’s not like anyone can really see in the yard anyway,” he said, pointing out the eight-foot-tall privacy fence surrounding the pool.
Abby’s eyes grew wide as she flushed. “Are you crazy?” she squeaked. Rob rose and stripped his shirt as he toed off his shoes. Balancing on each foot, he removed his socks. Raising a brow in challenge, his hands went to the waistband of his shorts, undoing them, and dropping them to the patio along with his boxers.
Abby’s breath was coming in short gasps as he performed his strip tease for her. She felt rooted to her chair. As Rob reached for her, she didn’t resist. It felt like someone else had inhabited her body. She hardly noticed as he helped strip her of her clothes and led her to the steps into the shallow end of the pool. The cool water felt good against her skin.
She had never been skinny dipping before and found the buoyancy of her body to be completely different from how it felt in a swimsuit. Diving under the surface, she kicked off and swam for the deep end of the pool. She surfaced not far from the diving board, laughing.
“I can’t believe I’ve never done this before,” she told Rob as he swam closer to her.
“It’s liberating,” he replied. Reaching her, he kissed her, making them both sink. They laughed as they surfaced together. Grabbing her arm, he guided it up to the diving board before urging her to place her other hand on it. Abby felt a sexual power run through her, seeing how he was getting turned on by the position. Having her arms raised thrust her breasts forward, and he gladly paid attention to them, his mouth warm on her nipples in stark contrast to the cool water that pebbled her skin. The sun heated the parts of her out of the water.
